I’ve been following this project and it is great. I appreciate folks like you sharing your knowledge and helping others like myself learn. I know that it takes up precious time to sit at the computer and share. I am curious about the dye though. When you apply the dye, does it raise the grain? If so, do you knock it down and if so how does that affect the appearance? I’m not questionioning your process, I’m just trying to learn something.

Kevin, with respect to your question the answer is that a water base dye does raise the grain. That is why Gary commented that he pre-wet the parts first to raise the grain and then lightly sanded before applying the dye. After the initial grain raising additional exposure to water will not affect the surface of the wood so that is why the grain is raised initially. If this step were omitted then the application of a water base dye would raise the grain and need to be lightly sanded to remove the wood fibers. But since this is only a light sanding it should not affect the appearance of the dyed wood surface unless the sanding got too aggressive.

When I am adding dye or stain to a piece I will stop sanding at 150 grit. For a water base dye, such as Gary is using, I would then mist the wood and let it dry. When the wood is dry (about an hour) do a light sanding with 150 grit to remove the “fuzz”, dust it off and the wood is ready for application of the dye.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

Thanks Scott. For some reason I didn’t see the last part of Gary’s post and I was under the impression that he was dying it first and then sanding the “fuzz” off. I appreciate your input and clarification. I’ve never used dye but may have to give it a try.

Great idea on pre-finishing (first protection) the individual parts and it does make life a lot easier, especially when dying or staining the wood, you will get a much more even color and squeeze-out is not such a big problem (as you stated)